Cornwall Ontario – In the Reminisce magazine of Sept. 2016 is an article on Batman and Robin, The Dynamic Duo. Who can forget the Batmobile? I had forgotten, though, all the expressions of Robin like, “Holy Haberdashery” which apparently was only one of 350, according to the article. Batman was played by Adam West and Robin by Burt Ward. Remember The Joker, The Penguin, Catwoman, The Riddler and Bat Woman?? The shows were so entertaining and fun.

Also in that issue is an old ad for Doris Day Paper dolls with paper clothes. Remember the paper dolls? The clothes had little tabs on them and we bent the tabs around the doll to dress the doll. We had lots of different paper dolls and loved to play with them when we were very young. It was fun to see them again.

Speaking of reminiscing, the tenants of Beek Lindsay Seniors Residence were treated to a concert on September 8th.by the musical talents of Ed Lauzon, who is a tenant of Beek Lindsay. His son, Ed Jr. from Manotick, joined his Dad. Playing their guitars and singing, they brought back a lot of happy memories to the residents attending the concert with many old favourites from the 50’s, great Country and Western music and also included in their repertoire were familiar and beautiful gospel songs. One resident described the concert as ‘fantastic’.

Ed Jr. and Ed Lauzon

Ed told me that he had played in a band at one time but he hadn’t played for 35 years. During that time his son, Ed Jr. had become a musician. This concert was the first time they had played together, so it was very special night for them also. Ed Jr. has also named his son Edward and he is the fourth generation of carrying the Edward name.

Some of the residents enjoyed dancing to the music including one of the residents who is 100 years old. They had lots of fun and everyone really appreciated the concert. A big thank you goes to Ed and his son Ed Jr. for making it a wonderful night.

When I receive the latest newsletter from Child Haven International, each page is so interesting that when I want to choose one for this column, it is difficult. Most of the pages show happy children playing, working, studying or just having fun. But this latest newsletter shows a photo of Bonnie Cappuccino, one of the co-founders of Child Haven, tenderly holding a lovely baby, described by the author, Bonnie’s husband Fred, as the most beautiful baby in the world. The photo struck me as being so symbolic of what Child Haven is all about. Bonnie, her husband Fred and Dr. Nat Shah founded Child Haven in 1985 to help destitute children and women in need … just what the picture of Bonnie and the baby so many years later, has captured: Child Haven still offering shelter, love and care.

A story I had read in one of their newsletters tells of a little boy who had been abandoned by his mother at a railroad station. The staff at the station were feeding him. Can you imagine the terror that little guy must have felt? Fortunately for him a policeman took him to one of the Child Haven homes.

In the photo next to Bonnie and the baby’s is a smiling little girl. It says that these two children are the youngest in that home. And like the little guy at the train station, where would they be without Child Haven???

Child Haven, a registered charity, operates ten projects in four different countries, India, Tibet in China, Nepal and Bangladesh. They also sponsor children for education that are not living in one of their homes.

For more information on Child Haven International, go to www.childhaven.ca or call Fred at 613-527-2829 in Maxville or email fred@childhaven.ca or call Elaine MacDonald in Cornwall at 613-938-7763.

The Child Haven newsletter always ends with a quote from Rabindranath Tagore: “Let me light my light, says the star, and never debate if it will dispel the dark.”

Bob Katz was telling me that when he was young he loved to go to the Woolworth’s lunch counter and have a hot dog and drink which only cost $.25. He also loved the sodas at Kennedy’s Soda Shop on Pitt Street. However, for $.25 he could have gone to two movies. Or one movie, $.12 and maybe enough money left over for a Kick Cola and some popcorn. Decisions! Decisons!! A hot dog or a movie?? I remember the wonderful banana roll cake Woolworths offered and in later years was still offered on the West Island of Montreal at Woolco. I also remember a bakery which I think was on Cumberland maybe below First Street. We used to go there to get a delicious loaf of French bread. I was just a small kid then but recall that it was very hot in the building and there were lots of flies around. In another section were two horses and the horses swatted the flies with their tails. No one I know from that era seems to remember it.

One of the things some seniors do remember is playing ‘spin-the-bottle’ at parties in the 50’s. When a guy spun the bottle and it stopped at a particular girl, she had to give him a kiss or vice versa. I guess it was thought to be fun at the time.

Come September my mind always drifts back to the first weeks living in the Nurses’ residence at the Cornwall General Hospital School of Nursing as a new student nurse in training. What a big shock for all of the class who had just graduated from high school and were now stepping into a whole new life. I was only 17 when I finished grade 12 which was a requirement. Because my birthday was in January and I would not be 18 by the end of December, I had to wait another year. It was just as well because it gave another year of maturity. We were no longer studying Math and English but now learning about Anatomy, Physiology and Nursing Arts, among others. Soon we were exposed to sick babies, IV’s, post-op surgeries and taught how to give bed baths, etc. etc. Certainly a whole new experience for all of us. We were also living now in residence with a bunch of other girls, most of whom we did not know. It didn’t take long to become friends but it was a big change from family life and Mom. Some of the girls were from out of town which made it an even bigger change in their lives.

We were considered ‘Probies’. We were on probation from September to January to see if we were nursing material and/or if we liked it. At the end of that time, we received our caps. No black velvet band would adorn it for another 2 1/2 years when we had graduated and passed our RN exams. We also wore black shoes and stockings which, on that’ Capping’ day, were shed gladly. We wore starched white bibs and aprons with a pink and white tunic underneath with a detachable very very stiffly starched collar. The bibs came under our starched collars and often rubbed and irritated our necks. At our ‘Capping Ceremony’, on January 26th.we received a tiny white lamp with our names on it and the CGH logo. It was symbolic of the Florence Nightingale Lamp. Now we felt like nurses with caps, white shoes and stockings and lots of support from family, friends and the CGH teaching staff for our future years of training.

Here we are getting our caps:

This is the Nurses Pledge we took:

“I promise to be loyal to my patients, the medical staff and my school: to uphold the honour of my profession in word and deed: to keep the light shining and be prepared to pass it on to those who follow me.”

Great to see a whole lot of smiling happy young teens working at a fund raiser for the Junior Hockey League on Saturday at the Independent Grocery store. On a nice sunny Saturday afternoon these young people probably had lots of other things to do but were there working and raising money for their team. Really nice to see them.

Here is a cute joke:

Two elderly women were out driving in a large car-both could barely see over the dashboard. As they were cruising along, they came to an intersection. The spotlight was red, but they just went through it. The woman passenger thought to herself, “I must be losing it. I could have sworn we just went through a red light.”

After a few moments, they came to another intersection and again went through a red light. The passenger was almost sure that the light had been red but was concerned that she was losing it. She was getting nervous.

At the next intersection, sure enough, the light was red and they went through that one. She turned to the other woman and said,” Mildred, did you know that we just ran through three red lights in a row? You could have had us killed!”

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